Baxi has launched a free new guide, ‘Decarbonisation and Affordability of Heat – a phased approach’. The guide aims to provide social housing providers with a framework for achieving net zero, particularly in harder-to-decarbonise social homes.
Baxi has said that with many residents struggling with fuel bills, social housing providers face the dual challenge of solving fuel poverty while achieving their own environmental targets. According to a statement, the guide recognises that only a comprehensive mix of technologies, implemented at scale within suitably prepared housing stock, will be able to face up to the net-zero challenge.
The company has said that the four-phase approach encourages social housing providers to take a ‘fabric-first’ approach within ‘harder-to-heat’ homes to ensure that the buildings are as efficient as possible and suitable for the low-temperature heating prescribed by Part L of Building Regulations. As a next step, the guide urges housing providers to consider accessories which are expected to improve the energy rating of existing systems, before planning larger scale investments such as air source heat pumps and heat networks or longer-term solutions such as hydrogen boilers.
David Cook, Baxi’s sales and specification director – residential, said: “Feedback from our customers indicates that a number of constraints can make certain social homes hard to decarbonise.
“In buildings like these, full decarbonisation could take some time to achieve. With that in mind, we’ve set out to support housing providers with a guide to the typical steps involved in decarbonising heat to help our customers plot their pathway to improved energy efficiency and net zero. Our goal is to provide social housing providers with the right heating solution at the right time to improve the comfort of residents while making significant carbon savings.
“With Baxi’s expertise and support, social housing providers can prepare better by being well informed. This guide is the starting point of the net-zero journey and, by partnering with Baxi, social housing providers can be assured of a smooth transition to energy-efficient, low-carbon heat that will tick all the sustainability boxes.”